“La Elvis” owes its name to a young martyr who participated in the 1977 raid on San Carlos and was subsequently captured and killed by the National Guard. The island has a health center, a school (Escuela Mateo Wooten, named after the Peace Corps volunteer who led its construction in the mid-1990s), a museum, and a hiking trail.

El Museo Archipiélago de Solentiname (MUSAS) (at the top of the steep path out of town, open 7 a.m.–noon and 2–5 p.m. Mon.–Sat., $2) was built in September 2000 to preserve and display the natural and cultural heritage of the Solentiname Islands and its people. The flowers along the path on your way up were planted to attract butterflies and hummingbirds.

Inside, local artists have painted scenes of the islands’ early history. Also find interesting maps of the area, archaeological information, and a display of traditional fishing techniques and the balsa-wood carving process.

Behind the museum are a natural medicine garden, arboretum of 42 tree species, a model organic avocado and balsa-wood plantation, and a weather station.

The Fundación MUSAS (made up of six community leaders, the Italian NGO ACRA, and several other organizations) also organizes environmental education workshops in the island’s school and supports a number of research projects in the area. The museum is open daily, but if you find it closed, ask around for Socorro, the local curator, caretaker, and key master. For more information, contact ACRA in the Managua office (tel. 505/249-6176, musasni [at] yahoo [dot] com).

At the peak of the dry season (March-April), La Cueva del Duende becomes accessible. It is usually underwater and is an important archaeological site that the islands’ past inhabitants believed to be the entrance to the underworld. They painted faces to represent their ancestors, believed to reside there, and left other markings, including a female fertility figure. The cave is located on the nearby Isla Donald Guevara, but you can arrange the tour with CANTUR here.